Secure Mobile Storage Reduces Internet Risk for Mobile Workers

With reports showing vulnerability escalating for companies using a mobile workforce, Origin Storage outlines and alternative approach to securing data on the move

News that a report has classed Web 2.0 services a potentially severe security headache comes as no surprise to Origin Storage, the storage systems integration specialist.

The Webroot report found that 23 per cent of respondents thought their company was vulnerable to attacks on Web 2.0 applications such as Facebook and Twitter, while a quarter said they were open to hackers that exploit flaws in Microsoft operating systems.

According to Andy Cordial, managing director of Origin Storage, it is interesting to note that a quarter of companies were compromised by employees accessing social networks from corporate computers.

'This is despite the fact that 88 per cent of firms said they had an internet usage policy in place, and 95 per cent said they enforced those policies,' he said.

'Our clients are also experiencing the same security headaches, which is also often caused by staff using the Internet to access their data resources whilst on the move,' he added.

Origin's MD says that the clear and present danger that the Internet poses staff in the field is causing a number of companies to secure portable storage devices for file access on the move, and then use a smartphone such as a Blackberry for mobile email access.

This approach, he explained, affords staff the best of all worlds, with flexible and highly portable access to their required files, as well as preventing any security faux pas by using a dedicated device like a Blackberry for email access.

Cordial says his observations suggest that companies are starting to realise some of the negatives- as well as the often-publicised advantages - that the Internet brings to the business table.

And because of this, they are eschewing direct mobile access to the Internet in favour of using portable secure storage devices, and then staying in contact using mobile email smart-phones.

'The Internet brings many positive benefits to companies of all sizes, but as this report clearly shows, there also many disadvantages. Our advice to clients is to use portable storage devices to their fullest extent and so reduce their company's internet risk profile,' he said.

'It doesn't always have to be about Cloud Computing - there are tried and tested lower technology options also available to companies that also reduce the risk of a security attack. This is what we are telling our clients,' he added.